Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-08-26
Young Idens WrestIiug with Scientific
Temperance.

from which illustrative examples may be |
taken. It is common practice-in all the |
larger schools, at least--to give written cX-
aminations once term, or even more fre
quently, on all important subjects. As
state law now calls for temperance instruc-
ton on an equal footing with any other |
study, it naturally follows that written tests |
have also been had and will be had on this. !
1t is from a batch of papers ON this topic |
that | wish TO draw some specimens, not so
much for the ediiication as for the amuse-
ment Of your readers. Who will interpret
this bona fdc quotation "The is all the
time snang miches on the nevers and is the
of you body thinks" This reply was made
TO the question, What is the brain The
teacher will readily see that the boy meant
this at is all the time sending messages
over the nerves. and is the part Of your
body that thinks This idea Of the brain
being a telegraph office is gained from the
books, and is set forth in the following tax
en- from another paper The brain is like
the telegraph Office, and the nerves are the
,cdrS which goes from the brain all around
your body He meant wires Here is
still another on the same subject, by boy
who is doubtless familiar with the shingle
The brain is Il bony cage (case). 1t has
the most work to do Of anything. The
nerves are small white cords which run all
over you if you had no nerves you could
not have the toothache or burn you but you
could not feel your mothers warm hand"
Something has been printed in the Argus
and Patriot, finding fault with the defn-
tiou Of the ball and socket joint as given in
the Pathhnders One Of our boys SAYS
There is the boil sockets joints and the
hinge joint one moves up and down and
the other around and around The spell
ing boil, in these days of base e-ball, is in
excusable, even in the case Of the very
little fellow who wrote it. He deserves
greater credit, however, than his school
mate, who wrote about The Bawl and
Saucket aud hinge joinds, Possibly their
teachers know what these little scholars
are after in the wanderngs Of their pure
young thoughts.
OF course the question was asked con
cerning the effect Of using tobacco upon
the growth Of the body. The teacher Ia
lady, by the way read the answer: you
hadent ought 10 chue Tobacco hecaus it crples
YOU in every way and stonts the groth.
1t was possibly the same urchin whom the
writer subsequently found smoking The
boy did not include smoking, however, in
his advice. The writer of the following
took the subject Of tobacco more deeply into
consideration. He says Of it 1T hearts
the bones and the boy who chewes it is not
50, that is not 50 plite as if he had not chew
ed attoll and does not rember his lessons 50
well. ~ You who read this will probably
say that the time had better he put into
spelling instead of temperance. This is IA
free country, and you are welcome TO your
opinion. \ very small young lady earnest
" protests that "topacto will make the
bones weak and it will stump the groth =
and another evidently little pupil struggled
Intellectually with long word, and finally
submitted that "tobacko is and emmerinne
,enemy) to the bones"
Here is reply from an older pupil to a
question on distllation. This description
Of the experiment corresponds very nearly
to that on page - Of Pathfinder No. ..
alcohol is made by dstillation The fol
lowing is an experiment Fill a teapot
with a fermented liquid and place in its
spout piece of rubber tubing about two
feet long, and put the other end Of the rub
ber in the neck of bottle which stands on
ice or in water Place lamp under the
teapot and light it. The lamp, of course.
Before the liquid comes to a boil, nearly all
the alcohol in it will have passed vapor
into the tubing and dropped as water in
aqueous form is meant into the bottle, be
cause of the culdness Of the ice or water
| On much larger scale, regular distlleries
are carried on This is a good specimen
of average work. 1t has been thought
| curious thing that instruction on the manu-
facture of alcohol should be so clearly given
and illustrated in IA book intended TO sup
press its manufacture. | have heard the
story that little girl asked at this very
! point in her lesson "Why don't we all
make our own alcohol y IL is IA matter of
not much consequence whether it is here or
not here it seems to me remnant of that
tendency which leads an educated writer to
write scientifically" rather than practical
| ly, 1t is hard page to get over with
class of curious, inquisitive, original think
ers, such as most young people are. In the
| examination papers there are lot of curl
ously spelled definitions. Several pupils
write 1T is a licked poisson - ''alcoal
is a liquid poisoun - ''alcoholl makes the
DitSeiS grow fat = "alocholl is a liquid pos
isinn
In New Hampshire the people are well
acquainted with cider and its manufacture
A few of our young Vermonters thus air
their knowledge on the subject Cider is
made of apples, They press the juice out
and let it stand a little while and sowar -
The foregoing is another illustration of the
child's love for the personal subject; it
might also serve to resurrect the shades of
the great photographers The following is
more business like "Cider is made out of
apples and stod until it sours, then they
sell it," Here follows a peculiar error for
it cannot be that the young scholar who
made the reply intended any play on words
"Cider, he wrote, lis made from the juice
of apples, and if you left it in the son it
turns into alcohol Numerous such mis-
takes Of spelling might be quoted to show
how uncertain child's hold on bits Of dis
connected knowledge is, and to argue the
Importance Of drill and time for practice
also, TO Illustrate a seeming inability on the
part of many to understand and assimilate
the ideas advanced. At the best, this sub
ject can only be simply dealt with, and its
ultimate influence upon the education of
the child cannot now he estimated. A few
more quotations must close my already ex-
tended letter, Says one boy They mus
cles are moved by little cords, called ten
ders.' The majority of the writers return
ed lime and grisel or some such reply, as
the composition Of bone but one begging
all particulars, and evidently remembering
some scriptural lesson boldly answers
"Bones are made of dust" 1t is a common
thing to find pupils " dropping " words
here and there these ellipses sometimes
produce ludicTous replies You can re-
move the animal from the bone by putting
it into the fire." He meant animal matter